New lease on life after heart attack [and cardiac arrest]

Published Wednesday November 9, 2011 By Rick Ruggles WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER « Live Well - Health & MedicineShare

Reina Walls doesn't say she almost died that wintry morning on Jan. 31. She says she did die.

Her colleagues brought her back through quick action, CPR and a device that shocked the heart back into rhythm.

Walls earned an ovation Tuesday night from those at the American Heart Association's Go Red for Women Expo, a fundraiser in La Vista to fight heart disease among women. She considers herself a private person but believes she survived so she could share the message that heart attacks don't always come with chest pain or arm pain.

God "doesn't want you to keep miracles to yourself," Walls said Tuesday in an interview. "I don't think He did all that for me so I could keep it a secret."

The Bellevue woman felt fatigued and short of breath the weekend before it happened. Walls, who has always been slender, had tried to work out that weekend, but the treadmill quickly exhausted her. She missed church the next day at Salem Baptist in northeast Omaha. She thought she had the flu.

After dropping daughter Natalia off at Central High School that Monday morning, she drove through the snow to her job in customer service quality assurance at Metropolitan Utilities District's facility near 61st and Grover Streets. She has worked there for two decades and rarely missed a day.

Bonnie Savine, MUD director of compensation and benefits, heard a commotion and someone saying, "Call 911!" Savine hustled to the scene and saw Reina Walls on the floor.

Savine had taught CPR for about nine years but never had been called on to work on a heart attack victim. She began compressing Walls' chest. Soon, Walls took shallow breaths, which then faded. Savine kept going. Walls breathed shallow breaths again, then, none.

Walls' open eyes stared out and seemed blank. By this time, colleagues had begun to yell: "C'mon, Reina, you can do it!" Some wept. Some prayed.

Someone raced down to the lunchroom and grabbed the automated external defibrillator, a device that jolts the heart. They hooked the two pads to her chest, and the gadget monitored her heart. Then the AED said, "Shock advised."

A colleague pushed the button, and Walls' body visibly responded to the jolt. Savine went back to work, compressing Walls' chest, then stepped back. The AED shocked Walls' heart again.

The Omaha Fire Department's paramedics arrived and took over. They raced her to Bergan Mercy Medical Center. Savine wandered back to her work station. "Did that really just happen?" she wondered.

Doctors put a stent, or tiny metal cage, into a heavily blocked artery that had caused Walls' crisis. Walls survived.

Dr. Atul Ramachandran, Walls' heart specialist, said his patient lucked out because she collapsed in her workplace and not in the car or parking lot. Ramachandran said her colleagues gave invaluable CPR and defibrillation.

"I think it's accurate to say she, quote, died, and they revived her," he said. "She really is fortunate."

Because medical miracles are rarely simple, an addendum to Walls' saga was required in August. She felt bad again and went in to see Ramachandran. She thought the problem was back.

When doctors performed a cardiac catheterization to see how the artery was functioning, they found cells had grown inside the stent, causing further blockage.

Another procedure cleared the artery, and doctors put in another stent, this one coated with a medication to prevent or slow similar cell growth. Ramachandran called Walls' prognosis excellent.

Walls, who will only say she's "over 48" years old, said she's eating more chicken breasts and tilapia, and fewer hot wings and pizza. She hungers to live life fully, shed the stress, make eye contact, give compliments and be kind. Mainly, she said, when you're given a miracle, it's up to you to do something with it.

She quoted a Bible verse: "To whom much is given, much is required."

Contact the writer: 402-444-1123, rick.ruggles@owh.com